Film festival focuses PR online

May 20, 2008
by Kimberly Maul

NEW YORK: The second annual Independent Features Film Festival (IFFF), which will be held this July, amped up its online presence this year with more videos and new online partnerships. Working with Burgner PR, IFFF is using online media such as Facebook and LinkedIn, and is reaching out to blogs and Web sites like Daily Candy and Thrillist, to tell film fans about the festival.

NEW YORK: The second annual Independent Features Film Festival (IFFF), which will be held this July, amped up its online presence this year with more videos and new online partnerships. Working with Burgner PR, IFFF is using online media such as Facebook and LinkedIn, and is reaching out to blogs and Web sites like Daily Candy and Thrillist, to tell film fans about the festival, said Burgner president Christie Burgner.

"We're also going after major trade publications because it's really about the films," she said. Using Web sites like FilmFestivals.com and WithoutABox.com, the festival reached out to filmmakers, which helped the festival receive more than 280 submissions from more than 40 countries.

The IFFF has been using its partnerships with the Tribeca Film Festival and search engine Lycos, which hosts the video Web site, to expand PR.

More than 280 films have been posted online, which viewers will vote on to decide which go on to air at the festival held at Tribeca Cinemas in New York City from July 25 to 27. The location of the festival led to a partnership with Robert De Niro's better-known festival, which closed the day before the IFFF opened its Web site for viewing, May 5.

"Every film has its own story. We help filmmakers with PR and encourage filmmakers to pitch their stories [to the press]," said Philip Nelson, the president of Independent Features. "We give filmmakers the opportunity to screen their films to an audience that they wouldn't necessarily be able to screen to," he said.

Nelson said IFFF received coverage in the New York Daily News and USA Today's Pop Candy blog.